bitcoin/bitcoin — pull request #4443 by robertsdotpm (2014-06-29 19:11:25+00:00)
Title: Can haz more codez plz?

Commit 7f3b4e95695d50a4970e6eb91faa956ab276f161 is the hugest change to Bitcoin in years and opens up new possibilities that we haven't even dreamed of yet. The problem is, the 15 op code limit is still too few. It won't work for complex contracts that require multiple op codes and implement complex logic. An example is TierNolan's cross-chain trading algorithm (and the majority of Mike Hearn's contracts on the Bitcoin Wiki.)

Sure, theoretically, we now have the power to implement virtually any contract, but the 15 op code limit means that for the vast majority of contracts - they will need to be split up into multiple transactions. This has the net deficit of using more transactions to implement simple ideas, while decreasing the usability of contracts (due to increased confirmation times) and bloating the blockchain.

I propose a conservative increase to 50 op codes which will allow for a greater range of contracts to be implemented. Obviously, the risk here isn't any greater as the changes already allow for all of the op codes (as I understand it.) 50 op codes will only improve the usability of the overall changes while preventing the risk of ugly hacks.